Governing in Political View of Said Nursi and its Effect on the Contemporary Islamism in Turkey

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

1 Professor of Politics, Shahid Beheshti University

2 Ph. D Candidate of Islamic Revolution, Qom Islamic Maaref University

Abstract

In turkey, two main discourses of Islamism can be differentiated from each other. One of them is the discourse of political Islam believing in the foundation of government and the other is that of social Islam which is severely against the project of political Islam. Bediuzzaman Said Nursi, the outstanding Kurdish clergyman of turkey, established thoughtsthrough deconstructing in the tradition of Sufi- Sunnite Islam and consequently, it was developed the movement of social Islam in turkey after his death. Nursi’s thought with a change in various eras finally leads to redefining the concept of Islamic human within the discourse of preservation and presenting a new pattern on the relationship between Islam and modernity. Following him, Noorju movement is of numerous divisions based on different interpretations from the works of Nursi and the most important of which is movement of Fathollah Gulen. Gulen is the founder of belief based movement since he has made intellectual and meaning based revolution in this intellectual system inspired by Nursi thought. He is of numerous followers and very influential in turkey through the educational, economic, and media networks. Today, Gulen is internationally well-known and effectual. Gulen’s thought is of different political results compared with that of Nursi and the most important of which is accepting secular liberal democracy.

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